Armin Hansen

American painter Armin Hansen, son of the famous painter of the old Wild West Herman Wendelborg Hansen (1854-1924), studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and in Germany at the Art Academy in Stuttgart. He spent several years traveling and studying in Europe (München, Paris, the Netherlands, and Belgium) and then signed up on a Norwegian fishing trawler. He later taught at the prestigious University of California at Berkeley and the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. At that time, he was one of the most well-known painters and teachers. For instance, he managed the summer courses at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and was involved in founding the Carmel Art Institute in the Monterey area. Around 1915, he turned towards post-Impressionist painting, mostly in oil and watercolors and etching. His favorite subjects were the sea, the coast and the fishermen of Monterey, later including Indians of the American West. He had occasionally worked himself as a sailor.

Over the Top, which received an Honorable Mention at the 1932 Art Competitions, was probably first created in 1931 as a drawing in ink on brown paper. In the same year, the respective etching in the format 22.6 x 36.5 cm was created based on the drawing.